


red and white

by sansapollo



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: But it is okay, Confession, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mythology References, Not Beta Read, Pining, Soft Choi San, Soft Jeong Yunho, They have their happy ending, a little bit sadness, another work inspired by my culture, because Im a NERD, handmade adornments, lol, martenitsa, san is scared, wooyoung is annoyed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 15:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30023778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansapollo/pseuds/sansapollo
Summary: “Okay, San. This is easy peasy.” He murmurs to himself, encouraging himself.“You fought with buff guys in taekwondo. Of course, you can give your crush a braided bracelet that confesses your feelings.”
Relationships: Choi San/Jeong Yunho
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	red and white

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!   
> I'm here with another soft work which I meant to post at the beginning of March but things happened.  
> I needed to distract myself so I wrote it but I'm not satisfied with it although I have rewritten it like four times or five??? still, I don't think it is good but I wanted to share.-.
> 
> Martenitsa is a tradition which is on UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2017. My family and I do it every year, so this year I thought of San trying his best to twist each threads for his members and I got soft:( I love him uwu
> 
> I hope y'all like it!

San twists another red and white threads together. He mentally applauses his efforts to finish these little bracelets for his members just before the march comes in.

He smiles at the handmade adornments. He did a good job on them although it is his first time doing them. He murmurs a slow song while taking another red and white yarn for the last one. He separates them into four parts. He won’t twist and curl this one. He will braid it.

Martenista, San discovered a few months ago, is a tradition for people in the Balkans to protect themselves from the harshness of Grandma Marta as they call. They use two yarns, one is white and the other is red, and ties them around their wrist or their neck. There are tons of tutorials on how to twist and braid the yarns or thousands of different ways to twist the threads together. Twisting is easy but braiding takes a little bit of time which San is trying to do at the moment. 

He huffs when he made a mistake, accidentally pulling the white thread instead of red. He undoes it, and starts over. 

He looks at the twisted ones, laying on his bed for his members and then at the one which he is doing at the moment.

His stomach twisted into a knot. Will  _ he  _ notice this? Will he like it? What would he say if San also confesses him? Would he reject? Or.. Would he accept it?

San’s heart skips a beat at the thought of this very clumsy braid work of his adorning Yunho’s pretty wrist. He sighs dreamily and ties a knot at the end of the yarns. 

San glances at the watch which shows 1pm. He gets up quickly. The members will be home soon. San told them he would stay behind to do the bracelets. He presses the braid thread into his chest, nerves acting up already.

“Okay, San. This is easy peasy.” He murmurs to himself, encouraging himself.

“You fought with buff guys in taekwondo. Of course, you can give your crush a braided bracelet that confesses your feelings.”

He nods at himself. His hand around the thread tightens with instinct. He can do this. He will rock this. Yunho will know his feelings at the end of the day.

The opening of the door and loud voices startle him, the braided bracelet falls from his hand. He yelps, collecting all the bracelets, he runs to the door. He opens it and greets with the sight of jongho holding Wooyoung in a chokehold. 

He giggles a little bit, greeting them. His nerves are a mess with the excitement bubbling up in his insides.

Then he sees Yunho- he actually makes eye contact with Yunho who beams at him, lifting a take-out bag, apparently for him. He looks so devastatingly handsome in San’s eyes even though all he wears is baggy clothes and messy hair. San gulps, it occurs to him out of the blue.

_ He can’t do this. _

He freezes, his hand squeezing the materials. The fear consumes him, making him back away slightly. 

However, before he backs up and gives up confessing his undying love for Yunho, Wooyoung grabs his hand and tugs the materials out of his hand.

“What are these?” He exclaims loud enough for all of them to pay attention to San, especially Yunho. San squirms around but Wooyoung still has a hold in his hand.

“It-It is-” He babbles uselessly, too embarrassed to talk. 

“It is what?”

He has never hated Wooyoung more than he has at this moment.

“It is a tradition in the Balkans people do. For protecting themselves from the harsh cold of march. Kind of a token.”

There is a silence for a second, then Wooyoung speaks up.

“You did these for us?”

His voice comes out so cheerily, San smiles affectionately, nodding and lets his best friend hug him, thanking him, too happy to receive something like this from San.

“But why is there only a braided one?”

Mingi asks when San gives him one. San sputters, blushing a little bit. 

“It- It is for Yunho.” 

He stops himself before he slaps his mouth when he notices what he blurted out, no need to show himself more stupid than he already is. Why can’t he just shut up and say that it is for him or for another member? No, of fucking course not, his  _ own  _ brain should betray him like this.

“Oh is it?” Yunho asks, pulling San from his thoughts.

San dares to steal a glance. 

Yunho has the softest smile on his face, which is weird because San doesn’t remember that he sees that kind of smile from him before. It is soft, endearing. San now understands how Paris felt for Helen. 

He would, as well, conquer Trojan for Yunho if he smiled like this all the time.

“Ye-yeah.” He stutters, his own thoughts are messy enough to distract him from the knowing looks the members throw at them. 

Yunho takes the bracelet gingerly, his thumb stroking the soft yarn. 

“It is pretty. Thank you.” 

_ Not as pretty as you are. _

“Oh. I- Thank you.” Yunho giggles shyly and in that moment, San notices he spoke out loud.

He wants to dig a grave and bury himself in it.

“Help me to tie it?” 

San nods, his hands holding the end of the threads, brushing lightly against Yunho’s long fingers. San’s blush becomes redder. 

He ties a double knot, tightening it as much as he can. He can feel Yunho’s gaze on him, yet he is too shy to meet with his gaze. He stays focused on the thread, his fingers linger above the wrist a little bit more before retreating completely.

“It is done.” His voice is shakier than before. San thinks if there could be a moment where he doesn’t embarrass himself before Yunho.

“Thank you.” Yunho whispers. San shudders at both Yunho’s low voice and their proximity.

“No worries.” 

He wants to say. He wants to speak badly. He wants to scream. 

Yet, all his courage disappears when he finally meets with Yunho’s gaze.

_ I can’t.  _

And he didn’t.

He passes by Yunho, striding towards the dining table. He blinks his tears away and digs in the take-out. He ignores the pitiful glances Seonghwa sends at him. He pities himself enough already, no need for anyone to feel pity for him. San listens to the chattering the members are doing in the living room. 

His heart sinks in a little bit when Yunho’s loud laugh enrichens his ears. He sighs. It will be hard to get over this probably. He tries his hardest to swallow his sadness with the pizza he is eating.

  
  
  


“Hurry up! Sannie, c’mon!” Wooyoung exclaims, tugging a very tired San after him. The practice has just finished, however, that does not seem like a problem for very excited Wooyoung, still tugging his best friend. 

Somewhere behind them, San hears Jongho grumbles. 

“Do we have to light fireworks right after the practice?”

San can’t blame him. They have been dancing for ten hours with little breaks and his muscles ache. He could give up on his right kidney if that helped him to get into his bed next to kuma. However, Wooyoung insists they should have some fun tonight which results in him buying a ton of different fireworks.

They find an empty park, there is no tree near them which is good since they are about to play with fire. 

San watches Seonghwa opening bags, taking out a few bottles of water along with trash bags. Then he takes out fireworks. 

Wooyoung and Mingi grab the dragon fireworks and run away to light it up. Seonghwa rolls his eyes as Hongjoong yells after them to be careful. Yunho follows them with  _ “I will take care of them, hyung”. _

Yeosang and Jongho grab Tezutsu fireworks, then run with Hongjoong behind them, nagging them to be careful since tezutsu fireworks are quite powerful. San laughs at them. 

“Which one do you want, Sannie?” Seonghwa asks him, holding a susuki in his hand and a bag in the other. San smiles, grabbing a spark.

“It will be enough, hyung.” 

Seonghwa eyes him weirdly, yet he nods. He takes off after Hongjoong, leaving San with the rest of the bags. 

It is way too late for anyone to be here unless they are here for a similar reason as his members. 

San watches his members, crouching down. Jongho chases Wooyoung with his fireworks as Wooyoung shrieks, running away with screams of respecting elders or something. A dragon firework, probably the one that Mingi and Woyoung lighted stands in the middle of them. 

Seonghwa puts a susuki in Hongjoong’s hand, whispers something into his ear that makes Hongjoong melt into him and smile brightly. Then, he stops nagging at members, lighting his firework with Seonghwa. 

San giggles a little bit at his leader swooning over Seonghwa simply. He sighs, bringing his match closer to the spark, he lights it with one swift move. He puts the match next to him. 

San watches the spark lighting, spurting little sparks around with his chin on his knees. The light illuminates prettily under the night sky, the joyful voices fill his chest.

“Are you having fun?” 

He yelps, almost dropping the spark into the dry grass. He shoots a nasty glare at the voice’s owner until he sees Yunho. His eyes melt into something softer, a smile playing on his lips immediately.

He kind of hates Yunho’s effect on him. 

The taller smiles, snatching a spark from the bag. He crouches down before San, bringing his spark next to San’s spark.

“Don’t steal my light!” San jokes, withdrawing his spark. 

Yunho laughs, grabs his wrist, holds it in place. San gasps softly. His skin feels hot under Yunho’s touch, he doesn’t know Yunho does it consciously or not but his thumb rubbing over San’s skin awakens the butterflies in the younger’s stomach. 

“Hey, Sannie.” Yunho calls out quietly, now his spark is on fire, he watches their sparks sparkling prettily.

San hums, indicating he is listening to him. 

_ “I love you.” _

The last sparkle of the spark drops down onto the grass. San’s brain short circuits. The words, he oh so dyingly wanting to deliver to the other, is delivering to him with such a soft, lulling voice. Is Yunho-

“Is what you tried to say while you did this bracelet for me, right?” 

The question catches him off guard, he dumbly looks at the bracelet Yunho is showing him. He opens his mouth but no voice leaves his mouth. His mind screams anxiously at him, yet he is at loss for words. Only a thought goes around and around in his brain.

_ Yunho knows. _

What should he say? 

_ Yes, it is? _

_ No, we are in some cool bromance? _

“Oh man, this feels awkward.” Yunho scratches his neck, averting his gaze, suddenly feeling self-conscious. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Yes.”

San gasps at the word that came out from his  _ own  _ mouth. Did he just- What- 

“I love you.”

San’s mind screams at him. What did he say? Why is he doing this to himself? Is he ready if Yunho gets disgusted by him? Is he ready for a rejection? The last time he checked, the thought of it breaks his heart. What changed? What makes him sound like he is confident although he is not?

He panics momentarily, his brain finally catching onto his heart, before Yunho’s giggles reach him between the loud laughs of Wooyoung. He listens to the lovely voice for a minute. Then, he notices their position. His skin becomes cold. He should say something-  _ anything _ .

“I love you too.” 

San blinks when he notices he is unfocused. He stares at Yunho. He  _ what _ ?

His heart squeezes in his rib cage. His butterflies fly around in his stomach crazily. A fuzzy sound echoes in his ears, repeating what Yunho has said just now. His skin prickles.

A wet laugh finally breaks out of him. 

“You what?” 

Yunho’s spark drops his last sparkle. San can see Yunho’s beauty even in low light. How could he not? When his heart is beating at his throat and his longest crush just confirmed his feelings are reciprocated? 

“He said I love you. Did sparklings run into your ear? I swear to god, this bitch-” 

San startles with Wooyoung’s annoyed voice, realizing all members watching them quietly, sparklers in their hand. They look at the duo with hopeful expressions, well except for Wooyoung who looks like he is so done with his members.

San casts his gaze at Yunho again. “Do you?” His voice quivers a little. 

Yunho chuckles, he cradles San’s face, bumping their foreheads together. San’s heart flutters, even this action confirms everything. He holds onto Yunho’s wrists, ignoring Jongho and Mingi’s wolf-whistling. 

Yunho kisses him. It is like fireworks, sparkling running through San’s veins. It tastes like sunshine if sunshine had a taste. It smells like lilac. It feels like warm blankets on a winter night.

And it is  _ Yunho. _

“Does it answer your question?” 

San giggles breathlessly,sealing Yunho’s lips with another kiss for an answer.

**Author's Note:**

> You probably know Paris and Helen story or at least, Trojan war :')  
> Lilacs are also the symbolism of the first love :')
> 
> For fireworks, you can look at [this](https://wow-j.com/en/Allguides/other/tips_manners/01863_en/) to know which fireworks I use~~
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.qa/cherriesannie)


End file.
